Trouble logging in?If you can't remember your password or are having trouble logging in, you will have to reset your password. If you have trouble resetting your password (for example, if you lost access to the original email address), please do not start posting with a new account, as this is against the forum rules. If you create a temporary account, please contact us right away via Forum Support, and send us any information you can about your original account, such as the account name and any email address that may have been associated with it.

The purpose of this thread is for anime viewers of Sword Art Online to discuss and speculate about the various game mechanics and technologies shown in the Sword Art Online anime.

Some on-topic ideas for discussion in this thread:

NervGear System

SAO Gameplay and User Interface

Known Bugs and Exploits

What do we know/have we been told about these systems and issues? Do the explanations given make sense? Are there plot holes or seeming flaws? What are the drawbacks of the approaches described, and how could they be addressed?

If you wish to ask questions about the systems shown, please use the Q&A Thread. This thread is to speculate and discuss about the systems, how they are portrayed to work, and whether they are feasible in reality.

IMPORTANT
This is a speculation topic, but information revealed should align with the anime airing. Any facts discussed should be limited only to the content shown in the anime.

Do not give ANY future plot points away from the novels, even behind spoiler tags.

If you wish to add some extra information that was not (and will not be) explained in the anime, please use properly-labelled spoiler tags (that identify the *purpose* and *context* of the spoiler). Please read the Spoiler Policy for more information.

I bit curious about a trivia feature in SOA which is guild emblem, usually we draw it on separate image editor application (gimp, mspaint, pothoshop, coreldraw, etc) and upload it to the game. But ppl in SOA won't be able to do because they can't switch to another program, so SOA has a full sophisticated system for drawing I guess.

NervGear:
1) It intercepts signals from your brain to the rest of your body.
2) It sends signals to your brain.
This seems much more plausible as a virtual world technology than Star Trek's holodeck.

A fantastic part is where is kills you. Microwaves need time to fry your brain just like a real microwave needs time to heat your food. I can't see NervGear killing you in the "forced removal" scenario. It's definitely possible for it to kill you in the "you die in the game" scenario because there is no one "outside" to help you remove the NervGear (while it kills you).

Another fantastic part: These people are in-game for months or even years. Are they all on IVs for food? Maybe the game has some kind of time dilation mechanism?

I believe the game's creator was arrested or jailed shortly after the incident because:
1) He created the game
2) Everyone who played it is dead or in a coma
It would be hard to prove though.

NervGear:
1) It intercepts signals from your brain to the rest of your body.
2) It sends signals to your brain.
This seems much more plausible as a virtual world technology than Star Trek's holodeck.

A fantastic part is where is kills you. Microwaves need time to fry your brain just like a real microwave needs time to heat your food. I can't see NervGear killing you in the "forced removal" scenario. It's definitely possible for it to kill you in the "you die in the game" scenario because there is no one "outside" to help you remove the NervGear (while it kills you).

Another fantastic part: These people are in-game for months or even years. Are they all on IVs for food? Maybe the game has some kind of time dilation mechanism?

I believe the game's creator was arrested or jailed shortly after the incident because:
1) He created the game
2) Everyone who played it is dead or in a coma
It would be hard to prove though.

I don't think NervGear only 'It intercepts signals from your brain to the rest of your body.', one of main aspect in SOA is fighting. In fighting you'll need reflect, which is didn't controlled by brain, instead automatically done by nerve system via our backbone. So in IMO nervGear also intercept backbone nerve signal.

He'd have a couple of options. Hiding somewhere would give him the most freedom, and most options further on down the line, but he'd have to run risks of getting caught to get food if he hid anywhere in country, and out of country he'd risk being cut off from his ability to watch his game at work.

If he doesn't care about being free after the dust settles, he could lock himself in with all the players, and leave a note for the authorities that if something happens to him, all the players would die. He'd then get to sit around as Admin watching things from floor 100, while the authorities care for his body along with all the captive player's bodies. Arrest would be certain once the game is cleared, but by then he'd have already accomplished his goal.

Although I posted this in the episode 5 thread, it quickly got buried. I thought it was at least useful since this is the first time we the viewer got 'info' about a weapon's stats in-game and how appraisal works.

If anyone else wants to try and decipher the appraisal info, the scene with Egil happens around 13:45-13:54 during Ep5.

Here's the screen cap. Sorry for poor quality.. but it required me to flip the image and apply a lot of zoom since Egil sat pretty far back from the camera's PoV. I've managed to figure out most of it, except for a few parts that stump me. Here's what I got so far, words that I don't know/am unsure of will be placed in (parenthesis):

Although I posted this in the episode 5 thread, it quickly got buried. I thought it was at least useful since this is the first time we the viewer got 'info' about a weapon's stats in-game and how appraisal works.

If anyone else wants to try and decipher the appraisal info, the scene with Egil happens around 13:45-13:54 during Ep5.

Here's the screen cap. Sorry for poor quality.. but it required me to flip the image and apply a lot of zoom since Egil sat pretty far back from the camera's PoV. I've managed to figure out most of it, except for a few parts that stump me. Here's what I got so far, words that I don't know/am unsure of will be placed in (parenthesis):

People in-game can't take off the NervGear because it is interrupting their brain's signals to their body. Most of them anyway. I don't really understand why you would die if someone outside the game forcibly removed your NervGear. You would only die if the NervGear was given time to kill you (with no one around to help you).

An interesting thing to note is that there are no level requirements to equip gear. You probably need to specialize in certain weapons to be able to use skills with them - like a player who specializes in one-handed swords is still going to be able to wield a spear, they just can't use spear skills. The thing is, you could still learn these skills "the hard way" from a user who specializes in spears. High level skills are probably impossible for any human to actually pull off, though. I still want to see someone dual-wielding shields just because they can (a la Demon's Souls).

I bit curious about a trivia feature in SOA which is guild emblem, usually we draw it on separate image editor application (gimp, mspaint, pothoshop, coreldraw, etc) and upload it to the game. But ppl in SOA won't be able to do because they can't switch to another program, so SOA has a full sophisticated system for drawing I guess.

Maybe it is one of those games which have a lot of pre-made guild emblems that you could choose from.

The NervGear's programmed by Kayaba to fry your brain you the moment it senses someone trying to take it off. (It has microwaves emitters.)

Quote:

Originally Posted by jcdietz30

Microwaves need time to fry your brain just like a real microwave needs time to heat your food. I can't see NervGear killing you in the "forced removal" scenario.

I was wondering about this as well.

What kind of sensor is placed on the NervGear? I can't think of an automatic sensor that can be placed there that is completely fail-proof of false alarms.

Also, if NervGear could fry your brain in an instant, I guess it means that NervGear's microwave is that much stronger than household microwave. However, I'm guessing that means our head would outright explode rather than fried. (even chicken eggs explode in your normal microwave)